Wu Fever sweeps through Bucktown

Even though the thermometer read 90+ degrees on Saturday evening July 9th, thousands of enthusiastic fans crowded the historic Prospect Park to attend the legendary Lyricists Lounge’s Hip Hop showcase at Prospect Park Bandshell.

A sea of diverse hip hop and music fans from all over New York City jam packed Prospect Park's Bandshell concert stage to catch a glimpse of some of hip hops biggest and brightest stars. The monumental show headlined with such acts as Brooklyn’s own: Joel Ortiz, Large Professor, 'Neek the Exotic' and many more.

Ortiz received a great applause for rapping his performances of his hits, "Brooklyn" and "Brooklyn Bullsh@t" back to back.

In addition, the Large Professor along with members of ‘Main Source’ rapped several of his old and new hits but the crowd went wild when their monster 90’s hit, “Looking at the Front Door” started blaring through the speakers.

The concert was filled with several great hip hop/rap bands performing their smooth lyrics over banging bass driven beats to a swaying crowd of old and new Hip Hop junkies.

Yet as the night wore on and the show progressed the crowd became more and more anxious to hear and see the sounds from the urban underground.

Representing in full effect was the dynamic Smif & Wesson and Wu Tang’s charismatic storyteller, ‘Raekwon the Chef.’

On the heels of their New York City press conference; on the steps of City Hall, ‘Tek and Steele’ of ‘Smif and Wesson’ erupted onto the stage dressed in money green and passion red from head to toe to the sound of thousands of screaming and applauding fans.

Steele appeared from right and Tek appeared on the stage from the left pushing his baby daughter in a stroller, greeting Park Slope with a big hello, over the rhythms of their hit, "Timz N Hood Check.” This gesture seemed to solidify his keen oneness with his older, younger and newer fans.

Both Tek and Steele kept the crowd mesmerized with old hip hop favorites such as: “Bucktown” and “Wreckognize” and "Sound Bwoy Bureill," as well as, future hits from their new collaborative 'Monumental' with the legendary Hip Hop producer Pete Rock, “That’s Hard.” Pete Rock was also at the anti-police brutality press conference earlier last week.

During their explosive performance, the two hip hop vets were joined on stage by none other than fellow Boot Camp Click alumnae, ‘Buckshot Shorty’ and Sean Price who joined in on the monster soundtrack New Jersey Drive release, "Headz Ain't Redee." Before their set ended, both Tek & Steele confirmed that their industry credibility and gritty underground rhythms were still in full effect.

During their gritty lyrical and rhythmic set, the two Brooklyn natives got the crowd even more amped up and ready to receive the concert’s closer, ‘Raekwon the Chef.’

If the crowd wasn’t already in hip hop overdrive from Mr. Smif & Mr. Wesson’s set, the Chef ensured that their hip hop appetites were completely satisfied before the massive audience left the park.

The Chef in all his brashness walked onto the stage in his hip hop fabulous, sporting a Louis Vuitton shoulder bag, contents unknown, and immediately began spitting through Wu Tang hits such as: “C.R.E.A.M,” “Wu-Tang Clan’s Ain't Nuthin Ta Fuck Wit”, “Da Mystery of Chessboxin” and “Can It Be All So Simple.” He even played a tribute to former Wu mate, the late ODB (Old Dirty Bastard) that mostly included the crowd wildly singing along to: "Shimmy Shimmy Ya."

His hour long headlining set also included songs from: “Immobilarity,” and his latest hip hop dish "Shaolin vs Wu-Tang."

He slowed down his hip hop jam session just a little to catch a quick breath during his fast paced set, while his DJ played Curtis Mayfield’s ("The Makings of You"). His DJ also dropped hip hop classics during Rae's onstage intermission, such as: ("Top Billin') and ("I Ain't No Joke").

At one point during his crowd stopping performance, he asked the crowd if they liked the direction in which hip-hop was going. The crowd of thousands responded with resounding “boooooo’s!

At that point he assured us all, "Rae ain't going nowhere, Rae right here with a brand new pair of sneakers on." Meaning he was still in the hip hop game bringing more lyrics and music for the true hip hop fans.

The crowd went wild all over again. He had even more to share with the massive crowd musically, but he was cut off by the show’s 10:30 curfew.

ProspectPark’s Bandshell and Lyricist Lounge put on a wonderful hip hop venue for all ages to enjoy. Smif & Wesson and Raekwon the Chef made sure the crowd left wanting more, making the $3.00 donation at the gate, a mere drop in the bucket for the lucky fans who made it into this great show.